Ken Robinson's speech was motivating and definitely impacts the PBL vision for public education. I love how he spoke about the fact that our education is linear, but everyone should not be expected to follow the same track. I also agree with the fact that children should be allowed to be creative and be encouraged to follow their passion; no matter how other people feel about it. The PBL approach definitely fits into his idea of revolutionizing education because it is all about creativity, student choice, and allowing the children to use critical thinking and problem solving.
For me personally, this challenge means that I need to dig deeper with the projects I do with my students and not merely touch on the surface of a topic. I will continue to foster creativity and allow my classroom to be more student led rather than teacher led. My greatest challenges in implementing PBL this year will be making sure that our driving questions are challenging, and stepping back to only facilitate while allowing the students to make discoveries (and mistakes) and not just "give" them the information.
I agree with you about his point on the linear approach to education. If we expect all children to follow this track, we have to know that we aren't meeting the needs of every child. If that's okay with us as educators, we have a much bigger problem at hand. It is also true that we have to help children follow their passions to achieve dreams that are authentic for THEM. It's hard to see kids growing up in a society that is "checking off boxes" in the sense that you have to work hard, graduate high school, go to college, get a job..... and on and on.
ReplyDeleteI am with you with the concerns for challenging our students and also having enough time to plan properly. I think they are connected- if we take the time to plan our experiences well, we will be better able to challenge our students. I am hoping that the change is hardest while we are changing, and that we will learn techniques as we go that help with efficiency. I know it will be worth the work.
ReplyDeleteTieraney,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your goals for your pbl experiences that you want to provide for your preschool students and the firm belief you have in the value of students discovering knowledge for themselves through the sustained inquiry within a pbl. When you wrote that you want to make sure your driving question is challenging and you want to step back to facilitate when students make discoveries and mistakes without giving them the answers or information, I wanted to stand up and clap! Many times well intentioned parents and teachers see a preschool student struggle with something they can't do yet, and rush to do it for them or with them, building a co-dependent learning situation or even fostering a learned helplessness. PBL doesn't leave students completely on their own, but rather provides a model of support where students learn to make their needs known through self advocating and teachers learn to create an environment, to anticipate needs and provide opportunities and resources for students to use to meet them which builds confidence, independence, and lasting learning. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dawn